Train ticket reservation: This app predicts last day to get confirmed ticket

Using historic data and deep data analysis, RailYatri app predicts the speed of ticket booking in all long distance trains

RailYatri app tells you how many hours or days you have to book your train tickets before they get sold out. Photo: Mint

New Delhi: Getting a confirmed train ticket for your holiday or work trip can be tricky, particularly during peak season or at congested routes, but a mobile app now predicts when is a good time for passengers to get confirmed train tickets. Since the train ticket booking period is a long 120 days and it is not always possible to make travel plans 4 months in advance, the RailYatri app tells you how many hours/days you have to book your tickets before they get sold out.

Using historic data and deep data analysis, RailYatri app predicts the speed of ticket booking in all long distance trains; i.e how soon tickets get sold out on each train.

While in some trains, tickets are available for months after booking opens, there are many popular trains for which tickets get sold out within 5-6 hours and the speed of ticket booking is as high as 51 tickets per hour. Nearly 50% of trains get filled up within a short span of 2 weeks after booking opens. According to a study done by the travel company, over 10 lakh travellers fail to get confirmed tickets everyday.

Manish Rathi, CEO & co-founder RailYatri, said this feature, known as Rush-o-meter, will exactly tell you by when or within how many hours per day you should book your ticket so as to avoid disappointment. “While there are many who do predictions on ticket confirmation, RailYatri is the only app that will tell you the speed of ticket booking in trains and help you book at the right time,” he said.

RailYatri has categorized trains according to their ticket selling rush. While in ‘supersonic trains’ tickets get sold out within the first 12 hours, trains in which tickets get sold out within 6-7 days are called ‘subsonic trains’.

Also, there are trains in which tickets are available for much longer period, and these are named ‘Chuk Chuk trains’.

“This feature will significantly increase the chances of getting a confirmed ticket since travellers will exactly know by when the tickets would be sold out. This works as an alarm for travellers who are planning to buy tickets for their future travel. Also, this feature will bring down speculative booking; where people buy tickets months in advance even if their plans are not final,” Rathi said.

The app also shows when RAC available ticket will turn to waitlist, thus increasing your chances of booking a confirmed ticket for your journey.

According to data from RailYatri, these are the trains where seats get filled up in 12 hours: Indore - Jodhpur Ranthambore SF Express, Howrah - Puri Sri Jagannath Express, New Jalpaiguri - New Delhi Sf Express and Varanasi - Mumbai Ltt Sf Express.